


The Alice Debacle

by great_cheese_danish



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Violence, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 05:43:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6740899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/great_cheese_danish/pseuds/great_cheese_danish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What was supposed to be a quick jaunt into the Boston area leaves Paladin Danse keeping watch over a sick Vault Dweller and planning a, hopefully, quick escape back to the Prydwen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Alice Debacle

To say the Boston area was one of the most dangerous places in the Commonwealth would be an understatement. It was host to all manner of undesirables; Super mutants, Raiders, Scavengers, and Synths all called the area home. It was a hotbed for fire fights and as Paladin Danse stood at Finn’s back, waiting for the shorter man to pick the lock of the Old Corner Bookstore, he could hear the familiar _pops_ of rounds being fired off in the distance.

Nothing so close as to cause immediate alarm. The relative quiet was broken by a muttered curse coming from the Vault Dweller.

“Damn, this lock is tough,” Finn exclaimed. Bent to his knees in front of the door, he rummaged in one of the chest pockets of his favorite oversized coat, finally pulling out another bobby pin. Discarding the broken bobby pin he got back to work. Danse watched, unamused.

“Not to rush this delicate matter, but this isn’t exactly the safest place to be in the open,” Danse trailed off, eyeing the corpse near the door; a raider lay sprawled out in the corner, no doubt he didn’t have much luck with the lock on the door either. Lifting his eyes back to Finn, he watched the man struggle with his screwdriver; generally Finnegan could make short work of locks.

Danse watched as the shorter man ran one of his sleeves across his forehead, soaking up the sweat Danse could see was starting to accumulate.

“Jesus, have some faith in me won’t you,” the smaller man snapped. And almost on cue, the mechanism in front of him gave a resounding click and the sandy haired man let out a triumphant squawk. “Hah! See? What did I say, ye of little Faith,” Finn jabbed.

Danse let out a silent huff of air and resisted the urge to roll his eyes, instead smirking at the display. “Let’s get inside before we have more to deal with more than difficult locks,” Danse urged. He watched as Finn gathered his satchel, slinging it across his body. He saw that as Finn got up from his bent position, the younger man leaned on the frame of the door, almost bracing himself against it. This caused a small spark of concern to shoot off across the Paladin’s thoughts. “Are you ok?” he asked.

Finn snorted as he brushed himself off “Yeah, I’m good, just a little tired is all,” he trailed off. “Man, this place better have some books still left in it, otherwise I’m gonna have an aneurysm,” Finn ground out. Pulling out his 10mm, he turned his head to the armored man behind him, making a short jerking motion with his head towards the opening “Ready to go?”

The concern Danse had had was gone almost as quick as it appeared. They had been travelling for a while and the Boston area was no walk in the park; the other man was probably just tired form the sleepless nights that had been plaguing them. Danse readied his laser rifle, clicking the safety off “Ready.”

Pushing the door open, Finn braced himself for what could be inside. Taking a few steps into the store, he eyed the broken shelves and the sunken in ceiling, watching as the light from his Danse’s helmet caught particles of dust in the air. The high windows of the store let in the last rays of dying light from the outside, barely illuminating anything through their dirt smeared panes; without the light coming from the armored man, they would have been tripping over burnt magazines and overturned bookcases.

Finn listened for any sounds that would indicate they weren’t alone and prayed to himself. _Please, for the love of God, let there be no ferals._ And almost in response, a garbled screech greeted him from behind one of the overturned shelves. “Of course, why wouldn’t there be? There can’t be one empty building,” Finn let out a puff of breath he hadn’t known he was holding. A laser shot flashed across the right side of his face, nailing the screeching thing square between the eyes, disintegrating it into a pile of ash. _Impressive._

“Pay attention, Soldier,” Danse ordered.

Finn rolled his eyes, grateful the Paladin was behind him and couldn’t see his face. “First off,” he replied, having to raise his voice over the din of more ghouls crawling out of the literal woodwork, “I let you have that one.” Finn let off a round, catching one of the ghouls in its leg, making it topple over on itself. Finn watched as it tried to claw its way towards him along the wooden ground, blunt and broken nails making a low scraping sound across the wood. Finn shivered and promptly put a bullet through its head. “Second,” Finn turned to face the Paladin, noticing a feral casually plop down on the ground from the broken ceiling, landing in an awkward mass of boney, decaying limbs, behind the other man. The younger of the two landed a few rounds in the creature, effectively stopping the ghoul in its attempt to gain a footing, “I am paying attention,” he smirked. 

Danse glanced back at the now dead ghoul behind him, a hum of agreement coming from him. The taller man watched as Finn stilled, listening for any more sounds of movement. Knowing Finn, and his apparent hatred and, Finn would never admit it, fear of ferals, he was most likely listening for the distinctive squelching sound that came from a moving, feral ghoul. 

“I think that was all of them,” Finn whispered, holstering his 10mm. He reached for the Pip-Boy on his arm, a small click bathing the area in a pale green light that had become so familiar to Paladin Danse.

“Then why are you whispering?” the Paladin mused.

The shorter man leveled the other with a bored gaze, shrugging. “You can never be too careful, you know how those things tend to pop out when you least expect it,” Finn stepped around, eyeing the debris at his feet, crouching down and promptly tossing away a half burned book. “Thanks for agreeing to come by the way, I know this place was sort of off the beaten path,” Finn said. He stepped easily over a ghoul corpse and made his way to Danse, quickly balancing on the tips of his toes, placing a quick kiss to the metal helmet of Danse’s power armor. Before Danse could lift a metal gloved hand to steady Finn, the younger man had danced away, starting to rummage through the shelves of burnt magazines and books, holding his Pip-Boy up to see slightly better. “Tell me if you see anything good…and ideally intact,” Finn laughed.

Danse smiled inside his helmet, unseen by the other man. The obvious excited energy from his partner lightening the mood, “Will do,” he answered. He watched as Finn pulled out a book from under some burnt magazines, his smiling facing quickly turning to an irritated frown when he noticed the bottom half of the book was burned away.

“Dammit,” Finn muttered. The sandy haired man tossed the burned remnant away, continuing his search for anything remotely readable. Moving folders and scraps out his way, Finn’s eyes darted from shelf to shelf, scavenging for anything at all. Taking a few steps back, he got down to his knees to inspect the lowest shelf, stretching out his gloved had to see if there was anything that had not been picked up by looters. Finn could vaguely hear the metallic footsteps of Danse as he browsed the shelves on one of the other aisles, his helmet light doing a much better job of illuminating the shelves. Finn would have to tinker with his Pip-Boy. As smart as RobCo was, for some reason those idiots couldn’t come up with a better color for the light that came out of his Pip-Boy; his dark world was perpetually lit by an eerie green hue that almost reminded him of those glowing green mushrooms he would come across or the putrid liquid that sometimes spilled out of irradiated containers. He almost sighed in relief when his line of sight momentarily got washed out in bright, _normal_ light.

“I think I may have found something,” he heard Danse say. Finn perked up.

“Let’s see!” Finn exclaimed, quickly popping up to his feet, momentarily swaying from the blood rush. He put a gloved hand to his head, trying to will away the dizziness that suddenly overtook him. He must have been on his feet for too long, or hadn’t had enough Fancy Lads Snack Cakes, one or both of those were starting to get to him. Not to mention it was extremely warm in the bookstore, considering the heater had probably been cooked for almost 200 years. In the few seconds it had taken him to gather his thoughts, the bright light of Danse’s helmet had gotten closer when the other man had quickly crossed the room.

“Are you okay,” Danse questioned. With the light of his Power Armor he could see that Finn most definitely, did not look okay; the brown haired man looked flush, his normally healthy skin looking chalky, but at the same time oddly flushed in the cheeks. The Paladin noted a sheen of sweat starting to bead on his forehead, dampening the hairline of his already disheveled hair. What Danse had thought had been aggravation at the lock situation earlier seemed to be something else entirely. This was extremely odd. 

“Finnegan, are you feeling well?”

Finn glanced up at Danse, shielding his eyes from the radiating light of the other man’s armor, lifting a hand to try and block some of the light from his eyes. Finn let out an irritated sigh. “Yeah, Danse, I’m doing perfect besides you trying to melt my eyes out with your helmet light, turn that thing down or something,” he muttered. Danse’s sight hovered for a few more moments before turning away, removing his helmet with a quite hiss of air, placing it on one the cleaner shelves.

The taller man turned back to his companion, taking in the other’s face in the pale light of the Pip-Boy on Finn’s arm. “Stop avoiding the question, Soldier, and answer me,” he ordered, the metallic resonance of his helmeted voice gone.

Finn rubbed his eyes with gloved fingers, leaving behind small smears of dust and dirt on his cheeks. “Danse, how many times do I have to tell you, when it’s just us, it’s Finn or, God, even Finnegan would do…even though the only people who ever called me Finnegan are dead as dust…I mean, they’re probably literally dust by now, what with the nukes and stuff,” Finn babbled. “I mean, hey, you can even call me Finn when it’s not just the two of us,” Finn said, “but if it wasn’t for your precious protocol,” he trailed off, making quotation marks in the air with his fingers. They had had this discussion plenty of times.

“Regardless, Finn,” Danse answered, “you are a soldier under my command and I need to know if you aren’t feeling well, ignoring obvious signs and symptoms of illness can not only endanger your own life, but the lives of your brothers and sisters in the field as well.” Danse watched as Finn slightly straightened his stance.

“Okay, okay, okay, calm down, Jesus, I was only messing with you, no need to get all serious business,” Finn whined.

Danse raised a dark eyebrow, still waiting for a proper answer.

Finn put out his hands in an almost placating gesture between the two. “Nothing to get worked up about, it’s just really warm in here is all,” he answered. 

This made both of the Paladin’s eyebrows raise in obvious concern. Finn was never hot. Whether it was some sort of unintended aftereffect from his time in cryostasis, or the fact that he simply just didn’t have a lot of body fat, in the year that Danse had known the Vault Dweller, he had never seen the other man get hot. Even after copious amount of _activities_ , the only thing he had seen Finn do was try to get warmer, usually plastering himself to Danse’s side and covering himself in what blankets were available. To say that Danse was concerned was an understatement. “You should sit down,” Danse suggested, his tone bordering on authoritative.

“Really, it’s okay. I’m totally fine,” Finn answered. “Now, let’s see what you got, you said you found something?”

Danse had almost completely forgotten about the book he had found, hidden underneath a broken shelf. He handed it over to the other man, watching as Finn brushed a thumb across the spine of the book, trying to rub away years of dirt buildup. Danse watched as a smile broke out across Finn’s face. 

“No way,” Finn said, taking his gloved hand and running it across the cover of the text. Beneath the soot there were golden letters on a red cover. Finn held out the book so Danse could see. “Danse! Do you know what this is?!” Finn handed the book back to the other man, pointing to the text on the red cover.

Carefully gripping the book in his armored hand, Danse eyed the golden text. He raised an eyebrow in question. _“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?”_ Danse had no idea what this was.

The excitement rolling off Finn was almost tangible, Danse could have sworn the other man was vibrating. _“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland!”_ echoed Finn. “It’s a children’s book! Well, not just a children’s book, it was written in the 1800’s and is…was considered one of the best novels of all time!” Finn coughed, and it was then that Danse could hear the obvious shallow breathing coming from the other man, but it didn’t seem to faze Finn at all, as he continued on, hands animatedly fluttering in his explanation. “It’s about this girl who falls down a rabbit hole and she ends up in this other world! We had to read it in school when I was growing up,” Finn coughed and started to slow down, taking a few moments to gather himself, but he didn’t seem to want to stop talking. Finn’s obsession with reading and books, which Danse had come to acknowledge as one of the man’s many quirks, was taking full effect. “It has a lot of logical twists and turns and it really makes you think…” Finn stopped abruptly, letting out a few coughs and Danse decided that enough was enough. His companion was obviously sick or coming down with something, with what, Danse had no idea, but it was visibly wearing him out.

Danse eyed Finn, “Ready to tell me what’s going on, Finnegan, before you pass out from a lack of oxygen?” Danse placed Finn’s precious book in the carrying compartment of his suit, where it would be safe, but for now, Finn had to sit down before he collapsed. “Come on Finn, take a seat,” Danse ordered, corralling the other man into the corner, where it seemed like in the past it must have been some sort of reading section, a long couch was pushed into the corner, debris almost starting to pile onto the piece of furniture from the fallen roof, but it looked clean enough. There was another chair next to it for a singular person, and Danse didn’t believe in Fate, but this was definitely favorable considering this sickness could have hit at a much worse time. Danse resisted the urge to shiver, thinking about what would have happened if Finn had been hit with this in the middle of the Wasteland.

The lack of noise coming from Finn was almost disconcerting, considering that the man rarely shut up. The Vault Dweller allowed himself to be pushed towards the couch, stopping abruptly to remove his Pip-Boy and unbutton his coat. “It’s way too hot in here,” Finn supplied.

Danse watched as Finn shrugged out of his beloved coat, which had been with Finn since Danse had first met him at Cambridge Police Station. Finn gently laid it down on the couch and started unbuckling the leather chest piece that was around him, placing it towards the foot of the couch. Finn glanced around, as if searching for something “Um, where’d I put my bag, I swear I just had it,” he muttered. 

The Paladin looked around and quickly found the satchel next to one of the overturned bookcases, bringing it over to Finn, the Vault Dweller started to search through it, looking for something. “Ah ha, here,” Finn said, pushing a few candles into the Paladin’s armor clad hands, “Hold these please.” Danse watched as Finn rummaged around in his bag, until the other man produced a golden flip lighter. Finn took one of the candles from the older man, and after a few clicks a small flame flickered to light, Finn the took the lighter and started to melt the end without the wick, and Danse wondered if the fever Finn seemed to have had progressed further then he had originally thought. The Vault Dweller looked at Danse, smirking at the raised eyebrow, and explained “I learned this trick when I was a kid,” Finn snorted, “I almost burned my treehouse down when I knocked over a candle; you melt a little bit of wax to the surface and then you stick your candle on top, it won’t fall over then.” Danse handed over the last candle and watched Finn as he did the same thing, melting the candle into place on the small table in the corner, illuminating the room in a soft golden light. The room was almost completely dark besides the candles, the sun having set outside shrouding the Commonwealth in night.

In the faint light, Danse could see the perspiration on Finn’s forehead as the Vault Dweller laid down on the couch, his blue vault suit the only thing separating him from the piece of old, worn furniture. Danse knew that this was going to be a long night, and moved to fortify their temporary hiding place. There were stairs next to the reading area that led up to the collapsed second level. There were no exits in what was left of the upstairs, some chairs surrounded an overturned podium along with more shelves and debris, there were a few old skeletons strewn among the rubble, but nothing that would help them. Sliding down the slight mountain of debris, Danse made his way to the door they had entered through, eyeing the dresser that was situated next to the door, he braced his armored hands on the sides and shifted the dresser to be in front of the door, enough that someone trying to get in would have a difficult time; enough to give them a warning and prepare themselves for a fight. Danse eyed the downstairs of the store, scoping the area and giving a last look around; one last search for anything they could scrounge together, maybe some Potato Crisps or Purified water. His thoughts were interrupted by a raspy cough coming from his companion on the couch, the Paladin made his way over to the reading section, stopping a few feet away and releasing himself from his Power Armor, a _hiss_ cutting through the silence of the store.

Danse stepped over to where Finn was laying, crouching down so he was almost eye level with the other man.

“How long have you felt like this?” Danse questioned the other man. The older man took off one of the regulation brown gloves that came with his Brotherhood of Steel uniform, placing the back of his hand lightly on the curve of Finn’s cheek, almost stunned at the surprising warmth he felt there; Finn was burning up, how had he not noticed this earlier? He shifted his hand, running a thumb gently along the cheek of the man he loved, gently touching a trail across the smattering of light freckles on the other man’s cheekbone.

Finn shifted into the familiar touch, closing his eyes in what could only be exhaustion. He let out a content sigh, the end of the breath catching on something in his chest, causing a few coughs to shutter through his slighter frame. Finn grimaced, placing a hand against the Paladin’s chest, futilely trying to push the dark haired man away. Danse didn’t budge. “Maybe you shouldn’t get too close, you could get what I have and then we’d really be screwed,” Finn smirked.

Danse’s mouth turned into a thin line, “Well, there wouldn’t be an issue at that point because I’m aware of my limitations and know when I’m unfit for duty, I wouldn’t risk endangering myself or the mission.” Finn squirmed, looking away from Danse in embarrassment.

Finn coughed and Danse could hear the wetness in the other man’s lungs.

“I honestly didn’t think it was a big deal,” Finn murmured, lifting a hand to fidget with the clips on the orange and gray uniform the other man wore, “I just had a sore throat for a few days, thought I had maybe just breathed in too much dust or dirt or something, I figured it would just go away on its own,” he shrugged. Finn lifted a hand, idly running his hand through the Paladin’s black hair, trailing his fingertips downward to a thick brow, fingers running absentmindedly over a scar that cut through the dark hair. Finn noted the furrowed look on his commanding officer’s face. “Careful, if your face gets any more serious you’ll start to get wrinkles,” the Vault Dweller stated with a small smirk, lightly tapping a fingertip between the other’s eyebrows.

Danse took the Vault Dweller’s hand in his own, pressing his lips gently to the other man’s knuckles. Danse couldn’t help the surge of anxiety that pulsed through his system, making his stomach flutter. He knew that the nervousness that shot through his mind at the first raspy cough was over-the-top, but besides the Brotherhood, he had never had anything or anyone like Finn in his life, the very thought of something happening to him was almost enough to make the Paladin nauseous. Of course he wasn’t naïve; the Commonwealth was a deadly place at the best of times, they faced death in different forms every day. Be it a group of wild raiders or one suicidal Super Mutant with a mini nuke, Paladin Danse was no fool; he knew his time with Finnegan could be cut short in an instant. Danse had even reluctantly accepted that something as simple as a shotgun rigged door or an accidental step on a fragmentation mine could finish Finn, but this, something that couldn’t be seen, something that he couldn’t physically fight against or block Finn from, made his skin crawl.

Danse had seen sickness in many forms. He had seen people choking on irradiated water in the Capitol Wasteland, their hair coming out in clumps, their bleeding and chapped lips parted in a barely heard plea for clean water. During his time in the Brotherhood he had seen raiders and scavengers, their minds riddled with the permanent aftereffects of chem use, with wild looks in their glassy eyes, screaming about imagined bugs crawling under their skin. He remembered packs of brahmin near Rivet City, struck down by an unseen disease that caused them to waste away into nothing but bone. Danse’s thoughts trailed to some of his brothers and sisters in the field, who, while few and far between, had fallen to something as simple as a virus given too much time to thrive. Yes, he had seen the many faces of sickness, and to think how many of them started out as something as simple as a sore throat made him grasp the Vault Dweller’s hand just a little tighter.

Danse’s attention was brought reeling back to the Old Corner Bookstore when he heard Finn trying to clear his throat in vain, causing a minor coughing fit, and with that he had made up his mind. Getting to his feet, he leaned over the smaller man, pushing back some of the sandy hair and placing a lingering kiss on the Vault Dweller’s forehead. Danse saw the questioning look in Finn’s hazel eyes. “Get some rest, tomorrow we’re going to head back to the Prydwen and you’re going to get checked out,” Danse stated. “We’re relatively close to the Prydwen; we just have to cross over the river and we should be there by sundown”. The black haired man sat in the single chair that was next to the couch, close enough to Finn all he had to do was lean forward and reach out his hand. “Try to get some sleep, I’ll be right here keeping watch,” he smiled. In the faint glow of the candles, Danse could see a small smile ghost over Finn’s features, his eyes shutting as he turned over onto his side, trying to get comfortable.

“My hero.”

-  
-

A few hours into the Paladin’s lone watch, Finn started to get worse. The Vault Dweller switched to breathing through his mouth at some point, which was made decidedly harder by whatever was clogging up his lungs. At one point, the raspy breathing had increased in speed and Danse had gotten up from his seat to check on his lover, placing a gentle, ungloved hand along the pulse point in Finn’s wrist. The speed of Finn’s heart was decidedly worrisome considering the fact that he was sleeping and hadn’t moved, let alone twitched, in the past few hours. Danse counted out a resting heart rate of about 103, which was high given the circumstances. The older man leaned over Finn, resting the back of his hand on the smaller man’s forehead. Still hot.

Danse hadn’t felt such a feeling of helplessness in a long time. Not since he had realized there was no cure for the FEV and had to put a laser bolt through Cutler’s head. 

He resisted the urge to pace, not wanting to wake Finn up. Instead, he raked his hands through his hair, not knowing what to do with himself. He was going to go mad with anxiety by the time first light broke. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he scanned the room, looking for anything he could try to calm his mind with. Nothing but overturned shelves and burned books greeted his sight.

Wait. Books. That book, the one Finn had been reeling over.

Danse stood, taking a few quick strides over to his lifeless power armor, reaching into the steel lined compartment at the front of the chest, his hand bumping into a few items that Finn tended to horde but had become too much for him to carry himself; bolts, gears, a few boxes of 10mm ammunition, his hand bumped into a cylindrical object and a smile broke out over his face. Pulling out a can of purified water, he forced his smile down, he had totally forgotten that was in there. Honestly, he mostly took whatever Finn threw at him without much thought. If he didn’t he would never hear the end of it. 

Water can in one hand, he reached his other hand back into the storage compartment, quickly finding the Alice book that Finn had beamed over. 

Quickly stepping back over to the couch, Danse placed the book carefully in his empty chair, momentarily abandoning it as he turned back to the far more important matter.

Danse was no doctor, but every Brotherhood of Steel member, from Initiate to Elder, was taught the importance of drinking clean water and keeping hydrated. It could stave of hunger and be the deciding force in whether or not you survived in the Wasteland. Danse hadn’t expected this little expedition to turn the way it did, something he definitely wouldn’t forget in the future; he simply hadn’t overstocked on the essentials, thinking they would be back to the Prydwen already. But Finn’s unexpected sickness had cut any thought of night travel quickly out of the equation. 

Danse sat down gently on the side of the couch, placing a careful hand on Finn’s blue clad shoulder and shaking him ever so slightly.

“Finn…Finnegan,” the Paladin whispered, raising the volume of his voice when he got no response. The Vault Dweller jerked awake and Danse felt a stab of guilt, seeing the bleary eyes gazing back at him tiredly.

“It’s ferals, is it ferals?” the sandy haired man muttered, looking around wildly, searching for what had woken him.

“No Finn, it’s just me, I found some water and I want you to drink it; you have a fever and we need to try and get it down,” Danse explained slowly, popping the lid off of the army supplied can.

The blue clad man let out a pitiful moan, “Holy shit, I feel like I’ve been slapped around by a Deathclaw.” Finn lifted a shaky had to his forehead, pushing some fallen hair out of his eyes, combing it backwards. Bleary, hazel eyes lifted to the face of the other man, eyeing him questioningly. “What did you say?” he asked, looking confused.

Danse couldn’t help it as his brows knitted together. “I have some water and I want you to drink it, it will hopefully make you feel a little better,” he explained again, slowly lifting the can up to Finn, trying to illustrate his point to the obviously, still confused man. 

Understanding dawned on the other man’s face, “Oh water, yeah okay,” he mumbled, taking the can from the Paladin with shaky hands.

Danse let his hand hover slightly, in case the other man dropped the water can. He watched intently as the Vault Dweller drank, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down with each swallow. Seemingly finished, the slighter man let took in a gulp of air, obviously hindered by his inability to breathe through his nose. Finn held the can in his hand, offering it to Danse. “Here, you have the rest,” he urged. 

Danse smiled at the sentiment, but gently pushed the offering hand away, “No, Soldier, you drink it; that’s an order.”

Finn’s hazel eyes narrowed at him in irritation, a pale comparison to when the blue clad man was at his best. But no other argument came from the hazel eyed man, lifting the cup to his mouth and drinking the last of the water. Danse watched as the other man tilted his head back, trying to get the last few drops from the can. Seemingly done, Danse took the can and placed in on the ground out of the way, urging the other man to lay back down. Finn shifted, trying to get comfortable. Danse, still seated on the edge of the couch, placed his hand softly on the other man’s hip, his thumb creating small circles in the elastic blue fabric. “What time is it,” Finn questioned, placing his hand on Danse’s knee. 

“Late, try to get some more sleep, you’ll need it in the morning,” the Paladin smiled slightly, taking in the flushed features of the other man in the faint light. He thought he saw a small nod come from the other man, but couldn’t be sure as the other was already breathing out again, falling back into a restless sleep. The taller man watched the other for a few moments more, his thumb still tracing gentle patterns on the other man’s hip. Danse got up and turned back to his cushioned chair, lifting the Alice book gently from its temporary home. Danse knew that if he was going to make it through this night with his mental faculties intact, he was going to need to occupy himself in some way.

Danse slowly opened the scarlet book, almost wincing at the cracking sounds the spine made. Delicately, he ran his fingers along the edges of the pages, seeing where in years past people had folded back the the pages, trying to keep their place in the story. Reading was something he hadn’t done in a long time, especially not for pleasure. The only things he tended to read nowadays were maps, mission reports, and the occasional technical document. To read a book simply to pass the time was a luxury he didn’t have in the Brotherhood; the same went for his time before the Brotherhood, as a scavenger he was constantly on the prowl for the next part he could sell off to someone. Keeping busy was something his life had depended on; if he didn’t find scraps, there wouldn’t be any food. But books had come into his life another way, through Finn.

To say Finn was obsessed with the written word would be somewhat of an understatement. The Vault Dweller had many quirks that seemed to stick with him through his jump in time and reading was one of them. Danse was more surprised by Finn’s ability to find books in some of the most unimaginable locations; it was like the man had a homing beacon that was perpetually adjusted to ‘locate book’ mode. They had once entered a raider’s drug den and the Vault Dweller had popped to his feet from behind an overturned sofa, smile lighting up his hazel eyes, waving some sort of cook book written by some Child person. Honestly, Danse thought that wasn’t the sort of cooking the chem heads had been trying to learn.

Danse couldn’t help the soft smile that appeared on his face at the memory. Yet, the thing he loved most about Finn and his obsession was that sometimes, when they were curled up at night, someplace safe, Finn would reach into his satchel and pull out his latest find. The Vault Dweller, nestled into the protective curve of Danse’s broad arm, would read aloud to Danse. It wasn’t as much that Danse would listen to the stories themselves; he was more interested in the smooth voice of his lover, words trickling out of him like a steady stream, voice rising and falling over the sentences, sometimes a small laugh or snort would interrupt the fluid words, a muttered apology being whispered into Danse’s chest. Eventually, the smaller man would continue and Danse would usually find himself being lulled into a gentle sleep, his lover’s words washing over his consciousness. Sometimes, it was the opposite and Finn would nod off, book rising and falling gently when it landed on his chest. Danse would usually have to take the book from his companion’s light grip, placing it on the floor or bed side storage container, quickly following suit and falling asleep himself, curled around his slighter lover.

Paladin Danse’s reminiscing was promptly cut short when Finn stirred on the couch, murmuring something nonsensical and switching positions, curling in on himself. The small burst of wakefulness seemed to be short lived, and Finn’s breathing returned to its quickened pace. Settling in, Danse readied himself for a watchful night; tomorrow would definitely be worse. Peering back down to the book in his hand, he started to read to himself, starting on the first page.

-  
-

Finn shifted, throwing an arm over his eyes to try and block the light that was coming from Danse’s helmet light. This wasn’t helping at all. “Danse, your helmet, please,” he groaned behind his arm, the words coming out in a muffled jumble. Why did he feel so exhausted?

“Finnegan?”

The Vault Dweller peeled his arm from over his eyes, the overwhelming brightness leaking through his lids. He squinted, a dull throbbing shooting through his head that couldn’t have been from the light. He tried to sit up, but his limbs felt sluggish, a gentle pressure was on his chest, keeping him from getting up. He cracked one of his eyes open, looking to see what was holding him down. The concerned face of his lover greeted him; Finn couldn’t remember ever seeing the Paladin look so worried. _Wait, his face? Where’s his helmet?_

“Finn, how are you feeling?” Danse questioned, lifting a cool hand to Finn’s forehead. 

_Feeling?_ That’s when everything came rushing back to Finn and he started to realize how horrible he felt. His whole body ached and it felt like a brahmin had sat on him. When Finn tried to respond a hoarse cough came out, shuddering through his body. He tried to get the phlegm out of his chest, but it seemed stuck, he was almost choking. He could feel Danse rubbing a hand across his back, muttering words of encouragement. When the coughing fit subsided, he opened his mouth and croaked out “What time is it?”

Danse eyed him curiously “It’s been a few hours since sunrise, I’d say probably 0800.”

_Well that explains the light._ Finn thought tiredly. He eyed his surroundings and he remembered that they had held up in the Old Corner Bookstore when his fever really kicked in. Finn watched as dust particles danced in the morning rays leaking through the tall windows. He grimaced thinking about what was probably in his lungs. A cool hand touched his face and he almost jumped at the contact.

“Finn, can you hear me?” the Paladin asked.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry, I was just…thinking…sorry, I’m kind of out of it,” he murmured, letting out a puff of air. He brought a hand up to his forehead, trying to will away the headache he could feel starting to pulse through his head. When his hand met his damp forehead he absentmindedly let out a sound of disgust. “Gross,” he mumbled, wiping his hand off on his Vault-Tec suit.

“You seem to still have a fever, how do you feel? Do you think you can walk?” Danse asked.

Finn sat up on the couch, his stomach giving a lurch in protest, licking his chapped lips, he gave a momentary thought as to how he was feeling. “What’s the game plan?”

The Paladin got up from his watchful spot next to Finn, walking over to the skeleton of his Power Armor, lifting his hands to the grips inside to haul himself into it. The frame shut quickly and the clank of his metal steps filled the air as he started towards his helmet. Placing it on his head before he answered, he looked back over to Finn, situated on the couch still. His lover looked like he had seen better days. The fever was still warring through his body, trying to fight off whatever he had and Danse could see a small shiver starting to take hold over the smaller man. His mental functions seemed delayed, most likely a side effect from the fever. The other man’s breathing was impaired and he would fall into coughing fits at the slightest provocation. Overall, Finn was a walking bullseye. There was no way they were going to make it to the Prydwen with him in this shape. Which left Danse’s backup plan. “I’m going to call in a Vertibird, it’s our safest and quickest option,” he supplied.

Finn raised an eyebrow, “Don’t you think that’s a bit much?”

“Absolutely not, the Prydwen is on the other side of the river, we would have to find a crossing point to get to it and the longer we’re out in the open, the more likely there will be a confrontation with undesirables,” Danse informed him. “We just need to get to a clearer area, where the Vertibird can land, there’s too much rubble in this section.”

Finn nodded, without any sort of comeback or add-on, and Danse could see the glazed expression in his eyes. He needed a doctor yesterday.

“Okay Soldier, let’s get our gear together,” Danse urged, moving towards Finn if he needed any help.

Finn braced his hands on his knees, almost thinking about what he was going to do before he pushed himself up, momentarily swaying. Danse reached out to hold Finn’s elbow, bracing the other man. The last thing they needed was a head wound in this situation.

“Thanks,” Finn mumbled. Grabbing for his armor and coat at the end of the couch, Danse watched Finn struggle with the clasps of his armor, trying to get it to the correct tightness around his chest. After a few moments of watching the struggle, Danse move forward to help. Power Armor was not made for delicate tasks and as Danse concentrated on looping the correct parts of the leather armor together he heard a giggled “Thanks Mom” come from the shorter man. Leather armor finally in place, Finn grabbed his oversized coat, shrugging it on.

“Oh man, that’s so much better, it’s fucking freezing in here,” he heard Finn sigh.

Watching Finn clasp his Pip-Boy into place, Danse grabbed for the other man’s satchel, gently placing it over the Vault Dweller’s head. That seemed like everything. Sickness aside, Danse wished he had kissed Finn before he had suited up in his power armor

“Ready, Soldier?”

“As I’ll ever be, I guess,” Finn croaked, bringing up his fist to muffle a wet cough. 

Danse stomped over to the makeshift barricade he had set up the night before. Bracing the sides, he easily scooted the dresser out of the way, leaving the entryway clear. Opening the door, sunlight cut through the relative darkness of the bookstore and they stepped out into the early morning of Boston. Flicking the safety off his laser rifle, Danse threw his head back, “Keep close, now’s not the time for foraging for anything, try to keep up but tell me if you need to stop, I don’t want you dropping dead from exhaustion,” Danse commanded.

Finn brought up his hand in a shaky salute, “Yes Sir,” he mumbled.

Danse eyed the smaller man through his helmet and couldn’t ignore the spike of worry he felt, this trip was going to be dangerous. 

The Paladin stepped out into the sun, quickly searching the surrounding area. There were three path ways they could take, the one to their left was in the completely opposite direction of the Prydwen, the other two led to what would undoubtedly result in some sort of combat. Usually, Danse was all for a good fire fight, but with Finnegan being sick, fever still spiking, they would have to try a different approach, a quieter and quicker approach. Danse eyed the ground where his metal covered feet were and saw an interesting red tiled pattern leading in the exact direction he was eyeing. He would have to investigate that another day. 

Danse quickly made his way to the stairs on his right, making his way up them. He heard the quiet patter of Finn’s footsteps behind him and a small muttered groan when the other man saw the stairs. “Are you trying to kill me Danse?”

Danse didn’t give a response, instead holding up his hand in a stopping motion when they reached the top of the stairs, crouching down. Finn stopped quickly, visibly winded by the stairs alone. “What the hell is that,” he heard the Vault Dweller breath out. The taller man eyed the area, what was once known as Faneuil Hall now looked like a home for Super mutants, if the bloody décor was anything to go by. The monstrous bastards had built some sort of pyre in front of the building and Danse could easily see the rusty cages and bloody gore sacs that the mutants favored, scattered around the premises. In combination with the twisted metal and spikes shooting from the ground it looked like a small fortress. Danse could see the red tiled line shooting straight past the building to the right, almost encouraging them to follow it, leading to the Prydwen. Danse shifted to Finn, “Do you see the red line on the ground? That’s the direction we’re going. Beyond this building, it’s almost a straight shot to a clear area where we can call in a Vertibird.”

Finn shakily lifted a hand to his eyes, rubbing them. Danse watched as the other man held in a cough, trying to choke it back down. “Okay, so you’re saying the only thing between us and the Prydwen is this tetanus infested hellhole?” Finn snorted quietly, causing a small coughing fit. He panicked to keep it down, throwing up gloved hands to cover his mouth. The last thing they needed was 15 Super Mutants descending on them.

Danse nodded, his helmet bobbing up and down.

“Well, we’ve been through worse I guess,” Finn said, wiping the back of his hand across his sweaty forehead. “Let’s just try to do this fast, I feel like my chest is gonna explode,” he cringed.  
Danse turned to the old building, bracing his laser rifle. So far, he didn’t hear anything. No dumbfounded mumblings and no mutant hounds snuffling around in the dirt, but Danse knew better than to hope for the best. Making his way down the steps, he could see why he hadn’t heard anything so far. It looks like there had been a small scrimmage between what looked to be raiders and the mutants that had taken up residence. Danse eyed the raider corpses strewn about, one was haphazardly thrown across some metal railing to his left. He nudged it, just to make sure. Dead. 

Quickly moving back the scene they quietly made their way to the right of the building. Judging from the scorch marks on the ground, it looked like a Super mutant suicider had been the epicenter of the battle. There were raiders and mutants alike in a circle of carnage. Danse didn’t take the time to appreciate what he saw. They moved, following the line of red, going past a few empty alleyways. They came to an opening and Danse could almost see their destination. This would almost be done with.

The Geiger counter on his arm clicked, spiking. The opening was filled with water and he could see radiation barrels strewn across the giant puddles. They needed to get out of this radiation. “Come on,” he ordered, putting a hand back to motion Finn onwards. The second their feet met the dirty water, Danse heard it. 

“Come out, come out wherever you are!”

Danse heard a string of curse words come from Finn. Which was answered by the ricocheting of a metal bullet on Danse’s power armor.

“Found you!” Danse lurched into action at the mutated voice, raising his laser rifle and locating the mutant quickly, pinning it in the leg. It let out a yowl of pain and in the distance Danse heard the howl of a mutant hound, answering its master. He could see that surprisingly, Finn had managed to get a few shots in, a few blooming spots of red popping up on the mutants chest, but he could also see that Finn was missing too, puffs of dust popping up around the monster. Danse wasted no time, landing a few red bolts through the mutants head, effectively shutting it up. 

“Fuck off you piece of shit!”

Danse spun around where he could see a mutant hound latched on to Finn’s leg, the man was struggling, but in his weakened state the quick jerks of the creature’s head was proving too much. Danse focused his aim, trying not to hit Finn, he manage to shoot one fiery bolt into the creature. The hound released Finn, who scrambled backwards away from the dog, his injured leg dragging along the ground. Finn’s back hit a concrete wall and he lifted his 10mm, shooting the mutated mutt in the head. The creature staggered and lunged for the Vault Dweller, but fell onto the smaller man, effectively pinning him to the ground. Finn let out a small yell, the hounds smoking brains leaking out onto him. Danse lowered his rifle, running over to his lover.

“Finnegan are you okay?!”

“Get this thing off of me, Danse!” The Paladin pushed the gigantic hound off his smaller companion, eyeing the blue clad man’s injuries. He looked a wreck, the color in his face almost completely gone in fear. His leg definitely would need to be stimpacked, right away. 

Finn covered his gushing leg with his hands, hissing at the contact. “Shit, shit, shit,” he ground out through clenched teeth. He could hear Danse rummaging around his the satchel at his side.

“Where the hell are the stimpacks?” Danse bit out, his metal hands clunking around the items in the bag. He let out a triumphant yell. “Hold on, I have you.” Danse gently held the other man’s leg and held the stimpack up to his lover’s mouth, who bit off the protective covering of the needled part of the stimpack and spit it off to the side. Danse quickly jabbed the needle into Finn’s leg, holding the other man’s leg firmly as he squirmed. Once the medicine was released, he threw away the needle and brought a metal hand to cup Finn’s face gently. “Are you okay?”

Finn didn’t say anything, just nodded slowly, leaning back against the concrete. 

Danse gave his companion a minute, surveying the area, listening for anything else that was potentially coming their way. He didn’t hear anything. 

“Finn, do you have the signal grenades that Elder Maxson gave you,” he asked. The other man nodded, reaching into his satchel and quickly pulling out one of the blue cylinders. “Hold onto it,” Danse ordered. The Paladin then quickly lifted Finn, carrying him across the irradiated water. 

“I can walk, put me down!” Finn squawked indignantly. His weak pushes against Danse’s armor did nothing as the soldier continued on, wading through the murky water. When the water got up to Danse’s waist however, Finn started to press himself further into the other man, trying not to touch the water. When Danse waded out of the water, he almost sighed with relief. There in the distance, through the murky morning air, he could see the looming shadow that was the Prydwen. 

Finn was no longer squirming, a slightly glazed look in his eyes. While stimpacks could stop bleeding and fix broken bones, they were nothing against viruses. Those the body had to get rid of on its own, the chemical nature of viruses being too turbulent for stimpacks to tackle. So while Finn was no longer at risk of losing his leg, the fever and sickness still raged through him. Finn leaned into the metal of Danse’s armor, relishing in the coolness against his flushed skin. Danse eyed the area.

It was some sort of park him and his men had originally come across. It must have been some sort of park at some point, an old copper fountain in one corner, aged to a mint green, and children’s jungle gym in the other. Danse approached the fountain to his right, placing Finn gently on its ledge, taking the blue cylinder from his hand easily. Danse cracked the tube and through it into the cleared out area that was big enough for a Vertibird to land. The Paladin watched as colored smoke started spewing into the air; the Prydwen would see it easily and have no problem getting to them. 

“I’ve had enough action for a while,” Finn murmured. 

Danse let out a small chuckle, ruffling Finn’s sandy hair. Finn twisted away, a pained grimace showing on his face. “Holy shit, I don’t feel too hot.”

Danse frowned, unseen by his partner. He eyed the horizon, looking for the Vertibird. Almost on cue, he could see a Vertibird creeping its way across the river. “Get ready, here comes our ticket home,” Danse announced. Finn got to his feet, swaying slightly and Danse lifted a metaled had to steady him.

The Vertibird entered the area, its engines sweeping away the colored smoke, touching down with a metal groan. A lancer initiate quickly hopped down from the steel machine, making his way quickly over to the duo.

“We saw your signal, Sir, we came as quickly as possible,” she shouted over the hum of the engines.

“Excellent work Soldier, we would have never made it without you. Knight Brannan needs to see Knight-captain Cade ASAP,” the Paladin ordered. The initiate nodded, quickly turning to Finn to help him into the Vertibird. Danse did once last scope of the area before making his way to the Vertibird and lifting himself in. A few seconds later, a shouted all clear between the Lancer and the initiate and the craft lifted off the ground. Danse stood at the open door, ready to handle the gun if necessary. Scanning the buildings, he didn’t see anything. The Paladin’s concentration was broken when he noticed Finn at the open door, on his knees. A knee jerk reaction took over Danse and the Paladin lunged for the other man, thinking he had somehow slid to the opening and was about to fall out. Danse grabbed for the other man’s coat and was met with swatting hands.

“I’m gonna vo-“and Finn retched over the side, into the river. Danse winced. The initiate in the other corner looked away, complexion changing to pale at the sight of the Vault Dweller emptying his stomach over the side of the Vertibird.

“I hope he didn’t get anything on the Bird,” Danse heard the Lancer swear from the cockpit.

-  
-

Now came the real challenge. After landing in the dock of the Prydwen, Danse hopped out of the Vertibird, turning quickly to help Finn, just to make sure the man didn’t topple over the side of the airship to his death. Finn took the Paladin’s hand, feet landing on solid steel. “Oh thank Christ,” he heard Finn sigh.

“Let’s get you to the doctor,” Danse ordered. Finn nodded, saying nothing.

Paladin Danse slowly followed the Vault Dweller as they made their way up the stairs of the dock, heading into the body of the ship. Now that they were in safe surroundings, he could lag behind and watch Finn’s back.

This was going to be difficult. Danse and Finn were in a committed relationship, they had been together for almost a year, but every time they came back to the Prydwen they had to put on the act of Paladin and Knight. A knight that was under his command. And who he had nothing but a commander-soldier relationship with. Relationships in general were something that the Brotherhood frowned upon, but the Brotherhood wasn’t stupid, they knew that relationships existed between some of their members, and as long as the job got done and they did not interfere in any way, there were generally no issues. However, a Paladin engaging with a Knight under his command was frowned upon and simply prohibited. There were too many crossed wires and potential disasters waiting to happen.

While Danse would never mention it to anyone, not even Finn, that was what Danse found most difficult with the Brotherhood. The fact that while in the same room, he couldn’t touch Finn. No playful banter, no quick kisses, no lingering touches. It was almost enough to make Danse snap at someone. But he was a soldier, they were both soldiers, and they both knew the rules. And being a soldier came first; this was their job and their mission, nothing could deter them from that. Although, Danse felt like Finn especially did not agree with him about being a soldier first, they never discussed it. They had gotten in too many arguments in the past. Yet, as time went on and Danse was with Finn more and more in the field, going through hardships and battles, Danse would only admit it to himself, but Finn was right next to the Brotherhood in his heart.

That’s why this was going to be so difficult.

Danse followed quietly behind Finn, keeping an eye out for any falters in his steps. They slowly made their way to the small infirmary, the smaller man coughing the whole way. When they got there Danse saw that Knight-captain Cade was removing stitches from an Initiate’s arm. Removing the last stitch, he saw the doctor throw the scissors onto a bloodied tray. The doctor let out what sounded like an irritated sigh.

“Let this be a lesson, Initiate,” he bit out, “the next time you go near Senior Scribe Neriah’s mole rats, which are not to be tampered with, you may not lose just a chunk of flesh, it may be an eye or a finger.”

“Yes sir, I apologize, Sir,” the Initiate answered stiffly.

“You should be good now, if the wound starts to show any signs of infection, report back here immediately,” the doctor ordered.

The Initiate stood, holding a fist to his chest, saluting the doctor. “Thank you, Sir.” The trainee quickly left the room, skirting around Paladin Danse with a quick, “Paladin, Sir.”

Danse watched as the doctor took the bloodied trays to one of the sinks, washing the contents down the drain, he then removed his gloves and washed his hands. “Paladin Danse and Knight Brannan, to what do I owe this surprise?” the doctor questioned, all the while continuing to soap up his hands. 

“We were in the Boston area when Knight Bra-,” the Paladin was explaining, when Finn grabbed a bucket that had been situated next to the oxygen tanks and loudly expelled the contents of his stomach. 

Danse waited until the retching stopped to continue, feeling a small tug of concern in his chest. “Sir, we were in the Boston area when Knight Brannan became ill. His symptoms have so far included: fever, chills, coughing, chest pain, the sweats, labored breathing, and most recently, vomiting, Sir.” Danse finished. 

Finn lifted his head from his bucket, between retches, muttering a “Sorry, Sir.”

Knight-captain Cade eyed the Vault Dweller, shaking his head. “Alright Knight, let’s get you situated. Paladin, If you would be so kind,” the doctor gestured to Finn and one of the padded medical beds. Danse helped his lover up, who clung to his bucket like a life line. Danse urged the Knight onto the bed.

“Just relax Soldier, you’re in good hands,” Danse ordered quietly. Danse lifted his hands to remove his helmet, but was stopped by the doctor before he could even lift a latch.

“I would leave that on if I was you, Paladin. Germs spread quickly and you’ve already been around him long enough as is, that helmet could be your only saving grace right now. I would recommend taking a hot shower and drinking plenty of water, we don’t need you catching anything from the Knight. You can leave now, Paladin, I’m going to run some preliminary tests to try and narrow down what he may have. This area is as good as quarantined.”

Danse let his arms fall to his side, eyeing his Knight. Finn looked horrible and decidedly pale against the red medical bed. 

“Get better, Soldier,” he ordered, hoping Finn knew how much it pained him to leave the other man.

“Yes Sir, Paladin,” Finn mumbled, raising a shaky hands in a thumbs up.

-  
-

Danse made his way to the power armor bay. He would drop off his armor for some quick maintenance and then head back to his quarters, hopefully he would be able to catch a glance of Finn on his way past. He mostly ignored the greetings he got from the people he passed in the hallway. Coming into the power armor bay, he quickly stepped over to his allotted station, releasing his armor with a hiss. Stepping out, he rubbed a hand through his hair, trying to relax a little. Finn was going to be fine, it was just the not knowing part that ate at him.

“Paladin, Sir, is there anything you need in particular for your armor,” one of the Scribes asked him.

Danse eyed the Scribe, “Just some oil will do, thank you,” he supplied. 

Danse leaned up into his armor, opening the carrying compartment at the chest, reaching in he quickly found the red book, bringing it to his side.

Stepping away from his power armor and ignoring the curios glance of the Scribe, he slowly made his way back to his quarters. Inching past the infirmary, Danse saw that the doctor had raised up a small privacy curtain, mostly likely in an attempt to stave off any spreading of whatever Finn had, as there was no door to the infirmary, it simply opened up into the hallway. Danse watched the curtain for anything, but caught himself after he had been staring for too long. He stiffly walked towards his room.

Danse quickly unlocked his door and once inside he finally let himself relax, dropping his shoulders. He placed Finn’s book on his dresser and kicked his boots off at the bottom of his bed, slowly zipping his orange and grey uniform down, stepping out of it slowly. He folded it and placed it at the footlocker at the end of his bed, lifting his boots to sit next to his folded uniform. He threw his gloves on top and made his way to the lockers next to his bed, opening one and taking out the standard t-shirt and sweater combination that every Brotherhood of Steel soldier was given. He shrugged the shirt over his head and tightened the string around his waist. 

Danse sat heavily on his mattress, dropping his head into his hands and running his fingers through his hair. He didn’t really know what to do with himself, knowing Finn was just down the hallway probably vomiting his guts out. Danse let out a sigh, trying to think of what he could do to preoccupy himself, his eyes landing on the scarlet book that was at the start of this whole mess. He got up, grabbing the book and laying down gently on his bed, head propped up by his lone pillow. He flicked through the pages, remembering where he had left of when he was on watch in the bookstore. This book made absolutely no sense, but Danse could see how Finn would potentially identify with the Alice girl. They had both been thrown forward into another world and were trying to make sense of it. But the Commonwealth was a much more realistic place, this Alice girl was attending some sort of political trial for someone who had stolen tarts…whatever those were. The jury that took place in the book was simply anarchy and while the Queen of Hearts character controlled her kingdom with an iron fist, Danse could foresee a backlash from her charges in the near future. Danse smiled, while the book was literally insane and some of the parts were hard to understand- _what the Hell was treacle?_ \- he quite liked it, it was at least interesting enough to hold his attention instead of worrying over Finn.

Danse continued to leaf through the pages, slowly getting further in the story when a few hours later a brisk knock came from the door of his quarters.

His brow furrowed in curiosity and then his stomach dropped. Finn.

Danse quickly tossed the book onto his bed, making his way to the door, flinging it open.

In the doorway stood a scribe, Scribe Isham was her name if Danse remembered correctly. She was Knight-captain Cade’s assistant, taking a peculiar path away from scribe work to focus more on medicine. She often helped the doctor with procedures and handled less serious medical cases. Danse swallowed, “Scribe Isham.”

The scribe looked him up and down quickly, “Paladin, Sir, I’m sorry to disturb you, but the Knight under your charge, Brannan, is asking for you,” she informed.

“Is everything ok?”

“As well as can be Sir, he seems to have a case of Pneumonia. Knight Brannan is very…lively, though Sir, and Knight-captain Cade has asked for your help in trying to keep him quiet, lest he wake the whole airship Sir,” she droned. Danse could see a small twitch at the corner of her mouth, like she was trying to fight back a smile. But she was too professional to let her mask slip. 

Danse quickly walked back inside, quickly throwing on his boots. Making his way back to the door and shutting it, he urged the Scribe on. She walked with him, side by side. “What exactly seems to be the issue, Scribe?”

The woman answered and Danse could hear the smile in her voice. “Mostly, Sir, it seems to be the fever working its way out of his system. He was registering at 103 degrees, which is teetering towards the dangerous side, but it’s made him delirious, Sir, and he keeps on saying the he needs to speak with you, that it’s urgent…he also keeps saying that there are glowing mushrooms in his Pip-Boy, Sir.” Danse looked at the woman and could plainly see her fighting back a smile. “My apologies, Sir,” she insisted, continuing the walk with the Paladin. “Needless to say, we inspected his Pip-Boy, just in case, and there was no fungus to be seen,” she informed him.

“Mushrooms, interesting. Do you know how long it should take for his body temperature to return to optimal levels, when he will be fit for duty again?” Danse questioned and he couldn’t help his mind trailing back to the Alice story and all her problems with mushrooms. He wondered if this was related, if Finn was just obsessed with getting his hands on the book they had found.

“We have him on an IV, he was very dehydrated. The doctor has also seen fit to put him on some antibiotics for the time being. Knight Brannan was having some issues breathing so we have been giving him oxygen periodically. The antibiotics should break down the mucus that has clogged up his lungs. We also gave him some anti-nausea pills. If everything goes well, I would say he should be back in the field by the end of the week.” She smiled, halting at the entryway of the Infirmary. “Now that we know he’s not contagious, he should be back to the bunks in a day or two, that’s why the doctor allowed me to fetch you,” she informed the Paladin.

“Thank you, for getting him back into fighting condition, I’ll see what I can do to calm him down,” Danse nodded his head in thanks.

The Scribe gestured towards the privacy curtain, pulling it back enough that Danse could see Finn. They had managed to get his coat and armor off, both folded neatly under the small aluminum table next to the exam bed, Finn’s Pip-Boy perched carefully on top of the pile. They had rolled his vault suit down to his waist and Danse could see that Finn was clammy from the fever. The IV was taped carefully in his right arm and the oxygen mask covered most of his lover’s face, but the Paladin could easily see the glazed expression staring back at him. Danse smiled at Finn, hoping the other man was conscious enough to see it as a soothing gesture. 

Finn lifted a hand to fidget with the oxygen mask and Danse raised a hand to stop him, “Leave the mask on Knight, it’s for the best,” Danse ordered. He could see Finn’s eyebrows scrunch together and Danse couldn’t decide if it was from confusion, hurt, or anger.

“Ah, Paladin Danse, thank you for coming,” Knight-captain Cade said, effectively pulling Danse’s attention away from the Knight in the bed.

“Knight-captain Cade, thank you for calling me, Sir, I heard he was being difficult?” Danse questioned. The doctor approached, taking the oxygen mask off of Finn and hanging it back over the tank.

“Difficult, no. Talkative, yes. It’s a wonder he hasn’t passed out from sheer lack of oxygen and the buildup in his lungs has nothing to do with it,” the doctor mused, smirking.

_Oh God, what had Finn been saying?_ Danse couldn’t ignore the shot of fear that ran up his spine. If Finn blabbed about their relationship, they would be separated and dealt with swiftly. Danse resisted the urge to fidget.

“He tends to do that,” Danse replied, almost dumbly, urging the doctor to continue.

“Honestly, I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner, what with all the things you two get up to,” the doctor droned, a knowing smile on his face.

_Holy Shit, he knows._ “This? Sir?” Danse questioned.

“Why, the Pneumonia of course. I’m honestly quite surprised at the condition that he’s in, he’s doing much better than I would have thought, given the circumstances. His immune system has been thrown forward in time by almost 200 years, I would have thought a simple cold would have killed him by now. His body just simply does not have the proper bacterial mechanisms to fight the diseases that have popped up in the Commonwealth since his time on ice, or so I thought. Really, he should be taken out of the field and studied, I think. He has proved much more resilient than originally thought, if we could somehow harness his white blood cells, we could get a vaccine for some of the nastier viruses out there. It goes both ways you know, while he is susceptible to what is carried in the Wastes today, we too, are susceptible to the bacteria he carries in his body. It really is quite fascinating. I took a few blood samples to give to Scribe Neriah, in hopes that she may be able to unravel some of his DNA structures, perhaps pick out the parts that have kept him going so far,” the doctor rambled, with a far off look in his eyes.

Danse felt nauseous and for a brief moment he thought he could have caught what Finn has. _He's talking about the virus, not them, thank God._

“I was never sick growing up, I don’t even think I had chicken pox,” he heard a scratchy voice echo form the bed.

“Chicken pox?” Danse questioned, feeling light headed. At least Finn was okay.

“Yeah, you know,” he coughed, “some kid would get it, then all the mom’s would throw a party and get all their kids together so they all got it early on,” Finn supplied.

“A party to spread a sickness? How barbaric,” Knight-captain Cade cringed.

Fin waved his hands lazily, “No no no, it’s not barbaric, it’s smart if you think about it. It’s itchy as hell and would get you out of school for a week, I remember my mom covered me in ointment and…uh, wait…I think I did have chicken pox,” Finn said confusedly, rubbing a hand through his sandy hair.

The doctor fixed Danse with a bored look. “As I said, talkative. Did I mention delirious?” the doctor waved a hand towards Finn. “To top it off, he keeps on talking about some woman named Alice, which, need I remind you, Paladin, relationships with civilians are strictly prohibited,” the man ground out.

Danse stood at attention. “My apologies, Sir, there seems to be a misunderstanding,” Danse started. “Before the infection took hold, we were in a bookstore in the Boston area and we found a Pre-War book, extremely old, a child’s story called _“Alice in Wonderland”_. Knight Brannan was extremely excited, it apparently was a part of normal learning curriculum before the War.”

The doctor stood rigidly, “Pre-War learning curriculum you say? Proctor Quinlan would no doubt be fascinated by that, may I see it?”

Danse cringed. He had to cover himself. “My deepest apologies, Sir. I regret to inform that in the mutant attack, the book was lost. It must have fallen out of my carrying compartment in the scuffle”

Knight-captain Cade frowned. “What a shame, it could have added to our collection. Needless to say, if it was a child’s story, as you say, it most likely would not have served a helpful purpose and only added to the clutter.” The doctor eyed the area across from the infirmary, stacks of technical documents starting to pile out of Proctor Quinlan’s quarters.

“What?! You lost it? Do you know what I had to go through to get that book?!” Finn yelled, voice cracking and causing him to spiral in to a coughing fit. Danse cringed openly at the sound of mucus blocking the man’s airways.

Knight-captain Cade lifted his eyes to the ceiling, probably saying some sort of prayer to a higher power. The doctor made his way over to the Knight, unhooking the oxygen and placing it back on a slightly struggling Finn. “That’s enough of that Knight Brannan, you’re going to give yourself a hernia at this rate,” the doctor chided, turning the valves on the oxygen tank, releasing a small hiss. “I’m going to give him a slight sedative so he can get a full night’s sleep, but he should be back to duty in the next week or so,” the doctor nodded, heading towards one of the medical chests in the corner, lifting the lid to reveal small glass bottles.

Danse watched as the doctor pushed an empty needle into the lid, holding both the liquid and syringe upside down. The man quickly made his way over to the IV hooked to Finn’s arm and injected the serum into the port on his arm. Almost as quickly as Finn had started to fidget, he was promptly knocked out, the sedative taking affect quickly.

“Well, now that he’s taken care of, I’m going to go get some grub before my night shift starts. Sorry to make you come all the way down here, Paladin, I probably just should have used the sedative on him to begin with,” he laughed.

“It’s no problem, Sir, I’m glad I got the chance to check up on him.”

The doctor smiled. “You’re a good man, Paladin Danse. We need more like you in our ranks,” the man patted the Paladin on the back, leaving the area to head towards the cafeteria. 

Danse watched as the man left, waiting a few moments to see if anyone went past the infirmary. After no one wandered past, Danse made his way quietly over to his lover’s bedside. The Paladin smiled, hearing soft breathing coming through the oxygen mask. Glancing one more time at the infirmary opening, he lovingly rubbed a hand through Finn’s erratic hair, leaning down to press a small, quick kiss to the other man’s forehead in apology.

“I’ll be right here waiting for you, Finn,” Danse said, only loud enough for his Vault Dweller to hear.

-  
-

“Really, you should have saved the book and just left me,” Finn whined. It had been almost two weeks since “The Alice Debacle”, a phrase Finn had coined almost immediately when he awoke from his sedated state. Once Finn had been cleared for duty, still on a small prescription of antibiotics, they had slowly made their way back to the smaller man’s Diamond City home. Curled up in each other’s embrace, they talked about what had happened and things they wanted to do next. Finn wanted to go back towards the Old Corner Bookstore and retrace their steps in hopes of finding the Alice book.

“Are you really that upset about one single book?” Danse asked, kissing up his lover’s chest and rubbing his chin into the delicate skin of Finn’s neck. Finn laughed and pushed the Paladin’s face away.

“Well, I’m not _upset_ , I understand shit happens. I can’t even really remember a lot of that day. But, I do wish I could find that book again, it reminded me of before the war. I doubt there’s another one in existence now. I think that’s what bothers me most. Knowing we lost it out there,” Finn mumbled into Danse’s chest, leaning his chin into the taller man’s collarbone and leaning up to kiss the rugged jawline. “Some raider piece of shit could be using it to wipe his ass for all I know,” Finn frowned, completely serious.

Danse almost wanted to laugh at the image, but didn’t want to break his lover’s hear any further, it was already tough enough to keep his secret. 

“Oh that reminds me,” Danse exclaimed, moving out from under Finn, who left out an irritated noise at being moved so abruptly. 

“What reminds you of what? We were literally talking about shit,” the Vault Dweller snorted as he watched Danse’s backside from across the room. He watched as the taller man went over to his power armor, lifting his hand up into the carrying compartment. Finn’s jaw dropped when he saw a familiar flash of red in his lover’s hand. “No fucking way,” he exclaimed, hopping out from under the thin blanket on his mattress. He quickly padded over to the taller man, grabbing the book out of his hands. Sure enough, the golden words spelled out the title of the book he had thought forever lost to the Wastes.

“You lying, magnificent man!” Finn laughed loudly, throwing his arms up around the other man’s thick shoulders.

Danse lifted his arms to hold onto Finn, relishing in the contact and rubbing his hands down the plains of the smaller man’s back. “Sorry about not telling you the truth, I wanted to give it back to you when we were in a safe place. I didn’t want to keep it from you, then give you the book only to lose it in the wasteland for real,” Danse explained, “I know you’re still trying to shake off the last of that virus.” 

Finn leaned up on the tips of his toes, bracing his free hand against the taller man’s strong chest, trailing small kisses up to the man’s jaw. “I get why you did it,” he smiled, lips curving along Danse’s chin.

The Paladin leaned down, capturing the smaller man’s mouth with his own.

Finn hummed appreciatively when Danse lifted him up, carrying him over to the small mattress, where he crawled over the Vault Dweller, pressing slow kisses starting from Finn’s neck down to his stomach. The smaller man resisted laughing, biting his lip between his top and bottom teeth. _Was it getting hotter in here?_

Finn put his hand on Danse’s broad shoulder, “Wait wait wait,” he breathed out, effectively stopping the other man. The Vault Dweller gently placed the red book on the far end of his nightstand, where it wouldn’t be damaged in what was coming. Book safely out of the way, Finn turned back to the Paladin, kissing his lips and simultaneously raking his fingers through the man’s warm black hair. 

“Ready?” Danse questioned pressing a kiss into the other man’s shoulder.

“Ready.”

**Author's Note:**

> My first fan work ever, so this is a new thing hah. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing. Basically 13k words of rambling, but I love these bastards so much. Things that will never be discussed: The astronaut hood and Nora and/or Shaun. Any constructive help would be much appreciated. Working on a multi-chapter life story for these two, how they got together (surprise, they meet at the Cambridge Police Station) and their misadventures and backstories.


End file.
